Asus preps Tegra-based Eee Pad, Eee PC with Ion 2

You know that Eee Pad Asus is rumored to have in the works? The folks at DigiTimes have gotten word from their many industry sources that the device will make its first public appearance at the next Computex trade show in early June.

DigiTimes says its sources expect the Eee Pad to have a Tegra system-on-a-chip inside and a price tag under $500. The story doesn't say which generation of Tegra processor will be used, but since Nvidia launched the new Tegra earlier this month, Asus doesn't seem very likely to release a device with a first-gen Tegra SoC five months later.

In related news, DigiTimes brings word of an upcoming 12.1" Eee PC that will include Nvidia's still-unannounced Ion 2 graphics processor. You can reportedly look forward to that system in April. The rumor mill suggests that, unlike the first Ion chipset, Ion 2 will essentially be a discrete graphics processor. Ion 2 should cohabitate with Intel's new Atom processors, which already have a built-in memory controller and graphics core.

The same report says Asus will introduce 12.1" Eee PCs featuring AMD's Congo platform in February with Taiwanese pricing around $18,000 TWD ($560 U.S.). DigiTimes is presumably referring to that Eee PC 1201T we saw at CES. The 1201T has an Athlon Neo MV-40 processor, Radeon HD 3200 integrated graphics, a 12.1" 1366x768 display, and a six-hour battery.